


Our cabin in the woods

by MarcellaEReeves



Series: Fragments [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Balmera, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Party, F/M, Keith and Shiro flirting, M/M, Memories, Post-War, in their awk way, mentions of pre-kerb, voltron family meal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 01:19:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13136136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarcellaEReeves/pseuds/MarcellaEReeves
Summary: After the war they were homeless. So being a resourceful couple they built a home. A log cabin in the woods, far from people who would bother them. And then because he'd seen it in movies at the Garrison, Keith wanted to invite their family for a Christmas meal. Only in movies things go wrong. And in Voltron things go wrong. So the thing that went wrong was that nothing went wrong, and Keith got a little irritated at that.But mostly he's just happy he got to share it with his husband.-My sheith secret santa exchange for Ginger! Where an older married Shiro and Keith decide to host a Christmas party. But mostly it's just a fic of Keith's happy memories (He needs some let's face it)





	Our cabin in the woods

**Author's Note:**

> Ah, so, meta: This is set in canon, but after the war when they go back to Earth. Voltron had saved Earth from the Galra, and Kolivan and the Paladins had helped stabilise the universe so it wasn't left in a power vacuum situation. Earth is part of the Galactic Union Kolivan now leads (bless his little cotton socks) and so can now trade with the union and share its technologies. None of them live on Earth now, except Shiro and Keith, who live alone in a v remote part of what's now called Norway but in the future could be something else. 
> 
> This is my Sheithcret santa exchange for [Ginger](http://misstchotchke.tumblr.com/). I hope you like it hani it was really fun to work on! <3
> 
> Note: The paragraphs in regular text are Keith's memories _The paragraphs in italics is what's happening now_. Confusing, right?

_Keith closed his eyes, listening. The sound of Shiro gently breathing, crackles from the fire, under it all, the soft_ paf _and_ foof _of the huge snow clusters that had been landing on the roof and ground outside all day. Tucked against his side, with his arm draped over Shiro’s stomach, (still military hard, despite the years since it had needed to be.) Keith rubbed the side of his nose with the hand partially sandwiched between them both. Resting on his shoulders was the decent weight of muscle and metal.  
__  
—_ __  
  
When they’d returned to Earth after the war had ended, they’d found themselves homeless. His shack had been commandeered when it had been found after they’d left for Arus. Taken apart in the hopes that any interstellar technology had been left behind. The same with the blue lion’s cave too, apparently.   
  
But even if it had been intact, Keith wasn’t sure he’d have lived there. It was his, he owned it but…  
  
Sad memories clung to the walls like a film. They’d be impossible to scrub free, he’d rendered the walls with his sorrow, as his father did before him.   
  
No, they needed to start again, afresh.   
  
Together.   
  
The home they’d made, nothing more than a wooden cabin in the wilderness, with only modest furnishings. Earth’s governments had wanted them to be a spectacle, bidding for their nationality with promises. Businesses and organisations had wanted to sponsor the “Defenders of the Universe” with lavish apartments in branded buildings.   
  
Keith had wanted somewhere small, with trees. Shiro had wanted somewhere quiet, without light pollution. As a cadet, Keith remembered watching Instructor Shirogane after curfew. He’d snuck out onto the rooftops to decompress, only to find out he wasn’t as alone as he thought he’d be. But he wasn’t reprimanded. Shiro had sat on the edge of the roof so casually, legs dangling into the abyss, the silent yearning towards the heavens that rolled off him in waves so visceral they had Keith physically recoiling.

  
Shiro didn’t look towards the skies like that anymore.

 

Keith had asked _why?_ One night, as solar radiation painted the sky brilliant greens and blues, he’d asked why Shiro still came to talk to the stars when he knew now what they had to say? 

 

_“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”_ He’d answered, a melancholy twist in his posture.   
  
Keith had rushed to his side in an instant.

 

They'd danced that night, slow steps with no other music than their twinned hearts.   
  
—  
  
_Shiro’s breathing hitched a little before he turned his head, the scratch of his stubble rough against Keith’s hairline and making his nose wrinkle. So, perhaps he wasn’t as military perfect as Keith had first pictured. The war had conditioned them to always be ready, and they still sparred every day. But being ready to fight wasn’t the same as looking it, and Keith couldn’t blame Shiro for not staying perfectly smooth.  
  
—_  
  
Keith had been slowly working a conduction fluid pump free from the engine of his latest hover - the result of him succumbing to a tempting deal. A free gift, in exchange for just a little public endorsement - when Shiro first brought up lighting.   
  
‘The trees look a little bare’   
  
He’d studied Shiro a little before returning to his engine work. Really, the heliocross was beautiful, and far faster than the little red heli he’d had before the craziness that was Voltron overtook his life. The heli he’d rescued Shiro on. The military had taken it, and he’d never been able to find it after they got back.   
  
Perhaps it was fitting. His first heliocross had been paid for by Shiro’s death. It was a chapter in his life he had no desire to revisit. Let sleeping dogs lie.   
  
His second heliocross was a prototype.  
  
He’d surprised himself with how eager he still was for anything Elysium branded, but it had made Shiro laugh away decades of fighting from his frame, and that had made his overreaction worth it. An unreleased Elysium prototype? He’d piloted machines that had made the little heli look like a child’s toy, and yet he still couldn’t stop the giddiness that rose up inside him when he’d been asked _“Do you want to see one of the prototypes?”_ nor the burning excitement when Shiro had interjected _“I hope you don’t think you’ll be able to show it him and not expect him to want you to throw it into any potential deal you’re going to offer him.”_  
  
Yes, he’d wanted it, he’d just not known he could ask for it. But since returning to Earth he’d seen how little Shiro actually _cared_ now _._ Before Kerberos he’d always been hyper-aware of social etiquette. During the war he’d distanced himself as much as he could until required to perform. After? When everything was said and done? Keith had watched those shackles melt away.   
  
_“Really, after all the things we’ve been through, asking for a free heliocross is nothing. The worst they can do is say no.”_

 

It was only fair for the universe to pay for his second with Shiro’s life.  
  
That didn’t mean the primary conduction pump couldn’t be improved. But all thoughts of replacing it dropped when Shiro spoke again.   
  
‘We should get some lights.’   
  
He’d pulled his head up from the engine, seeing Shiro analysing some of the trees near their house.   
  
‘We have lights.’ Lightbulbs, blackout candles, private-dinner-for-two candles.

 

Shiro had laughed. ‘Lights for the trees, for the holidays.’  
  
Oh, of course. ‘When I was growing up, there used to be these rows of trees by the rivers, and every year they’d be covered in little lights.’ Any smile he wore was priceless, but this one was more so. Nostalgic and sweet, and Keith cherished it. ‘I’d like to do that here, even though the trees are the wrong shape.’   
  
And so they’d purchased boxes of net lights and draped them over the trees. The modifications Hunk had been making to his prototype came in useful for hovering so far off the ground, following Shiro’s instruction for how they were supposed to look. So far north they only got a few hours of working light, and Keith found himself wishing they still had the Lions.   
  
Still, they’d finished just as the sun was setting.   
  
‘Aren’t we going to turn them on?’   
  
But Shiro had only smiled, put an arm over his shoulder and led him back into their house.

 

‘We should do it when everyone is here. So it’s a special occasion.’ Shiro had said.  
  
_What a romantic idiot,_ Keith found himself thinking.   
  
‘Any occasion is a special one with you.’ He’d replied.  
  
He’d been kissed in response. In the doorway, with the heat from their home spilling out into the wilds and strong hands wrapped around the end of his scarf and waist, and it had left Keith breathless and wondering who was truly the romantic idiot.

 

—  
  
_Shiro stirred, mumbling something from a dream against his hair before sighing and relaxing again, and Keith was glad for it. Finally, after years of torment, he had Shiro right where he wanted him - full, warm, sleepy… safe. He tightened his grip…  
_  
—  
  
When Keith had been in the Garrison, a group of the students had commandeered the assembly hall every Saturday night and used the screen to play movies. At the time, he hadn’t been keen on watching them, preferring to use the simulators. How much more entertaining could some old flat-gen movie be compared to the sensation of flying through Saturn’s outer rings?   
  
But then Shiro had entered his life, dragging him along to do strange things like watch movies. _“Just give it a try, one movie”_ he’d insisted. And so Keith went.   
  
When he lived with his dad, he’d never spent much time watching anything. They’d spend countless hours listening to the static between frequencies, his dad perking up at anything that sounded like talking. He hadn’t understood at the time, until Kerberos, when he’d found the little shack again and used the radio to tap into the mission transmissions. His dad had been listening for signs from a loved one beyond the atmosphere.   
  
Keith had been doing that too.   
  
He’d still never told Shiro, about hours spent scrawling broken conversations and timestamps in his notebook, only to take them back to the Garrison and assemble them into something legible. Conversations about missing food and family and mission updates, and even once them talking about himself (his stomach did a summersault when he’d heard Shiro ask that).  
  
…Or about the long nights spent alone after the Kerberos failure, listening to static in one ear and old recordings on his phone in the other, as the void in his chest tried to consume him.  
  
He hadn’t told Shiro any of that, either.   
  
But he hadn’t understood at the time why they had to listen to the radio. He also didn’t know any better, and so his days were spent playing outside in the dust, and occasionally watching distant rocket launches. But not watching movies, and not watching old movies at that, either.   
  
But he’d wanted to make Shiro happy, which felt like a weird notion at the time, so he went.   
  
He went, and it was December, so the selected movie had been something to do with the holidays and how they were hundreds of years ago. The colours might have been flat and age damaged, but to Keith they were amazing.   
  
So he’d gone back every week, and Shiro had been happy, but also Keith had been enamoured, sold completely on the imagery of laughing family and friends together, of tables heaving with food and of twinkling lights and powdery snow.   
  
He’d wanted to ask _“Can we do that?”_ but hadn’t dared, yet somehow Shiro had guessed, finding a very small plastic tree and decorations with battery powered lights for his room at the Garrison. A Christmas gift _“for my favourite cadet, but don’t tell the others”_ , and Keith had laid in his darkened room after classes staring at the tree, with a smile on his lips and confusion in his heart.   
  
After the war, he didn’t have to worry about confusion anymore, and he didn’t have to worry about rejection anymore either. So he’d asked _“For Christmas, can we invite everyone over for a meal? Like in those old movies we used to watch?”_   
  
Shiro had smiled, and he had so many, but this one Keith had only ever seen used for him. Something that made his face seem heartbreakingly soft, with the power to turn diamonds into marshmallows, that made Keith’s breathing shallow and clamour, and he’d said how it seemed like a great idea.   
  
So that’s where they were, standing outside the clearing near their house, as the ground trembled and winds billowed around them. The Castle (with a few Holt improvements) landing in all of its majesty. The sight was still impressive despite it being his home for most of his adult life, though Keith supposed that was because he didn’t usually have to watch it land from the ground. No sooner that the former paladins of Voltron had landed there was a reunion, tears and bone-crushing hugs. Hunk dressed in the clothing of the Balmerans was something Keith would ever be able to get used to, Shay trailing behind him, graceful and generous in giving them space. Pidge being taller than him was also something he’d never be getting used to. Or allowed to get used to - she used her 4mm height difference against him at almost every opportunity that arose. At least Shiro found it funny, so that was something.   
  
Matt and Lance now had mirroring face scars, which seemed to irritate Lance, but he’d finally gotten with Allura, which seemed to irritate Matt. So Keith guessed it balanced itself out.   
  
Coran, who walked with a limp from the platform, clapped a hand on Shiro’s shoulder before pulling him into a hug. “ _No reason to feel guilty number one, we’re all alive”_ the gesture spoke. “ _You couldn’t control it,”_ it said, and Shiro folded into the hug in response, pressing his forehead against Coran’s shoulder. Keith looked away. This was their moment. So he lead the others back to their house.   
  
Everyone they’d invited was here, except Kolivan, who couldn’t be dragged away from the Galactic Council duties long enough for dinner, but would come by in a few days after receiving Earth’s formal hospitalities… it sounded like more formal work rather than anything interesting or fun.   
  
But they were crammed into the tiny house, and then Keith had stared at them. Because in the movies this was usually where a problem happened that they’d all be able to solve and come together over, but in real life everything was going to plan. Shiro took over organising the troops so everyone had a job and left Keith to slip into the kitchen, determined to cook an amazing meal that matched the historical ones in those old movies.   
  
A few minutes later, Hunk slipped in behind him. ‘Need any help? It’s been years since I cooked with anything made on Earth’.   
  
They worked together, building a meal that was suitable for a family movie set, even though they had to improvise with some things, like Keith forgetting they needed a tray for the turkey. ‘We can just put it on the oven pan, but we’ll need to wash it first.’   
  
Because he’d ended up being Hunk’s assistant, everything went smoother than it should have. There wasn’t even an unexpected problem fitting the turkey in the oven, which was disappointing. When everything was minding its own business cooking they returned to the party assembled in the lounge.   
  
…Only to see Shay sitting with her hand wrapped around Shiro’s, stroking his wrist with her other. It wasn’t rational, but he still swallowed the pang of jealousy that flipped his stomach into a knot. Where she stroked, a blue-white aura graced the Olkari prosthetic, and Hunk placed a hand on his shoulder, tugging him back into the kitchen.   
  
‘Did you see her face?’ Hunk wasn’t smiling at Keith, but instead out at the window (dark, even though it was only 3 PM) ‘She’s been missing home, so I guess it’s nice for her to touch a part of it.’   


It took a second for Keith to understand. ‘The Balmera crystal?’ Finally things were making sense. The crystal Shay’s Balmeran host had magnanimously donated after Shiro… after they’d nearly lost Shiro and had to make a replacement for his arm. Almost battleship class in power, yet small enough to fit in a wrist, they hadn’t realised just how powerful it needed to be until almost too late.   
  
He didn’t want to think of those dark times anymore.   
  
’I didn’t know they worked like that, I thought…’ Well, he didn’t know what he thought, to be honest. Mostly that the crystals were a waste product, dead but charged with usable quintessence, rather than a still-living part of the Balmera that Shay would be able to sense. He shook his head.   
  
‘Was it weird for you though? Seeing them?’   
  
Hunk looked wistful, rubbing his chin with a half smile. ‘It was. I know what she’s doing isn’t romantic, but… I still kinda… wanted to punch Shiro’  
  
It was such a shocking mental image that Keith could only give a breathy half-laugh in response.   
  
Still, when they went back into the lounge he felt a lot better about the situation, and it wasn’t long before a content Shay released Shiro, smiling sweetly and thanking him before going to speak to Matt, and Keith watched as Shiro shook his arm and flexed his fingers.   
  
‘I didn’t know Balmera crystals worked like that…’ Keith threw himself down onto the couch, crossing his legs so one of his knees was resting over Shiro’s lap, who rested his hand on it. ’Did it hurt?’ He asked.  
  
‘No… it was more like my whole body was vibrating really intensely.’ He seemed perky, but the whole time he’d been sitting down. When others milled around, Shiro just sat. A far cry from the young man the Garrison had sent into space all those years ago.   
  
Back then it had been impossible to keep Shiro still, a person who’d been given the diagnosis of restless leg syndrome from the age of seven, and who the Garrison’s medical officers had tested for everything from over-active thyroid to an anxiety disorder to even a neurological condition. They’d all turned up negative, green-lighting his interplanetary career.   
  
It had gotten worse after he came back from his first stint in Galra captivity. His arm seemed to contribute to his high energy, Keith didn’t think he even saw Shiro get tired during their time on the Castle. The only time he’d gotten close was after flying Black for a while, which was saying something, because after the few times Keith had been her pilot he’d been absolutely exhausted. Even now he was still managing to rub circles into Keith’s thigh with his thumb…  
  
‘How long will dinner be?’ He’d still kept his Garrison appetite though. As long as Coran didn’t make it of course…  
  
Keith answered, nibbling his lip a little after. He sensed Shiro watching the action from the corner of his eye before the hand on his thigh squeezed and Shiro stood to address the party.   
  
‘We’ve been working on a surprise, so if everyone wants to grab their coats we can show it to you.’  
  
Keith stood and made to put on his coat with the others, half run-jumping out of the way as sneaky fingers pinched his butt. He shot Shiro an unamused glare, even if Shiro was pretending to be the master of having no idea why Keith had squawked… Sly.   
  
Keith’s own coat wasn’t as big as Allura’s, which looked like the inspirations for its design had been “part zorb, part pink cotton boll.” The padding was so thick her arms stuck out at almost right-angles to her torso, and the collar was so high only her eyes and the little points of her ears poked out. Lance was dotingly pulling mittens over her hands, and he had to look away at their gentle intimacy, heart fluttering with happiness for them.   
  
When they were all standing outside, Shiro had them count down from ten. On the stroke of zero… nothing happened. Just like in those old movies they’d watched in the Garrison, a smile painted itself on Keith’s face, even as the three aliens wondered what they’d counted down to.   
  
‘Just a second, that wasn’t supposed to happen.’ Keith doubted that very much, and after some “playing”, Shiro had them counting again.   
  
This time at the end of the countdown the forest illuminated with thousands of twinkling lights. He couldn’t help the slight intake of breath. Set against the night sky it was perfect. Shiro wandered over to him, slipping a hand around his waist and using Allura and Shay’s loud distractions to press a gentle but sweet kiss to his lips, looking at Keith like he’d give him the world.   
  
Keith knew he would.   
  
The whole universe, if Keith asked for it.   
  
He hid his face against the crook of Shiro’s neck, feeling the grip tighten around his waist.   
  
_‘Thank you’_ He whispered, just for Shiro.   
  
_‘Anytime’_ Came his reply.  
  
They went back inside, and Keith could still see the gently twinkling lights outside the window as he peeled carrots, still feeling a little giddy. It was all going right, for once a plan they’d planned was going… well… according to plan.   
  
A Christmas miracle!  
  
After the meal, where again there weren’t enough chairs until Shiro somehow found some extra Keith hadn’t known about, a toast to the season, to their friendship, to life. Allura and Coran had politely drank the wine offered, and then almost immediately gone red-faced.   
  
‘I feel so hot inside, am I sick? What is this?’ Allura wobbled so dangerously as she groped the air towards her coat that Keith had to ask Coran if she could pilot the Castle in that state.  
  
‘Nossense, number five,’ ( _‘ah~Hah!’_ from Pidge, and Keith shot her the dirtiest look he could muster) ‘O’ccourse she’s _-hic-_ fine’  
  
He wasn’t convinced, but it was his fault for introducing Alteans to alcohol he supposed. He had a higher tolerance than his small size would suggest, but it seemed one glass of wine was enough to severely impair their coordination.   
  
‘I’ll make sure they take a few ticks in a healing pod just to make sure there’s no lasting damage before we take-off.’ Lance had said, carefully steering Allura away from the doorframe as she teetered to it, and the last thing he saw from her was the very deep red staining of the tips of her ears and a half mumbled _‘I don’t want to wear my mittens, it’s too hot Lance’_ before she disappeared out of sight.   
  
Pidge grabbed him next, stroking the top of his head and crooning so loudly he could hear Shiro laughing. He shoved her away with a violent warning that only made her laugh too. But it came from a place of love, so he was smiling by the time he shook Matt’s hand.   
  
And Hunk cried as he pulled both Keith _and_ Shiro into another bone crushing hug.   
  
‘Don’t be afraid to call, this was really great I’ve missed hanging out with you guys.’  
  
His family. The perfect Christmas.   
  
He found himself tearing up too after Shiro closed the door with a sigh. A few too many people for the former Black Paladin, but Keith found himself still buzzing.   
  
So it wasn't a surprise when their early evening snuggle on the couch found Shiro nodding off, warm and safe, belly full of good food, Keith wondered how much the lions had actually imprinted on them.   
  
—  
__  
He shuffled his weight over so he was side-sitting on Shiro’s lap, waking him. He would have felt guilty if not for the way Shiro nuzzled against his chest and pulled him close. His arm wrapped around Shiro’s neck and he rested his chin on the top of Shiro’s head.  
  
More white hair than black now. He had a few of his own to match, and a few wrinkles.  
  
His husband had given him everything he could ever hope for or want in life. They’d had to pay for it, to carve out happiness and pay for it in flesh and blood, but they’d come out the other side as victors.   


_‘Shiro,’ Now that he was awake, the retrospective calm that had overtaken Keith was slipping away. They were both scarred, more mentally than physically, but he traced his fingertips over the second to mar Shiro’s face - cheek to jaw, before replacing them with a kiss. His name was sighed in encouragement. ‘I want to go to bed…’_  
  
After a few more dustings of his love against Shiro’s nose and lips, he was lifted, never stopping in giving his declarations as he was carried to bed. His offerings were returned, with the gentle patience Keith had learned to yearn over their years together, the heady violence he’d lusted over in his youth reformed into cravings for the tender lovemaking that Shiro offered.   
  
If he wanted the whole universe he knew he only had to ask.   
  
That night, Shiro delivered it.   
  
And in the morning, as they watched the sun rising wrapped in each other's arms, Keith knew there was no movie that could capture the happiness he felt in this moment.   
  
And as the sky shifted from purple to red to orange he whispered ‘I love you.’ just for Shiro.  
  
‘I love you too baby.’ Came his reply.

**Author's Note:**

> Keith: No this smile of Shiro's is nicer. No _this_ smile of Shiro's is nicer. No THIS smile...
> 
> NGL I am not someone who usually writes fluff. It's either angst or smut, so this was a challenge! Having said that, a confession: I was really tempted to kill Shiro off so many times here bc my angsty nature. So there's a few alternate versions of this fic on my SSD where Keith is remembering these events whilst cuddling Dead!Shiro who died in his sleep from old age after everyone left. There's also one where at the end Shiro doesn't say "I love you too baby" he just doesn't reply bc, again, he died in his sleep. I had to write it and get it out of my system I'm sorry. 
> 
> Happy holidays! 
> 
> [I'm on Tumblr come say hi!](http://marcellaereeves.tumblr.com)


End file.
